Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Hansen/Hafer Family Extravaganza

Ok, so we had a wonderful, long trip to Paris and London. So, instead of writing a long thing about the trip, I've put up some of my favorite pictures and will caption them to tell you all about our lovely European vay-cay.

Valentine was a trooper and in general was actually pretty good considering all the billions of things we dragged her to and around. However there were quite a few times she'd get an attitude and give us looks such as this one.Drew and I outside the Musee D'Orsay- LOVED it. Beautiful museum with beautiful artwork- it was mainly French Impressionism. The best.Twinners. Kinda creepy how much they look alike sometimes.The Hafers at Le Tour Eiffel.I'm pretty sure that I had french onion soup everyday while in France. Delicious.Sacre Coeur. Best view in the city.The Hansens at the Eiffel Tower.Valentine kissing/making out with me.I adore these two.We loved our crepes while in Paris. Yum.Valentine gets LOTS of kisses.Valentine loved her ice cream. Like I had onion soup everyday, Valentine had ice cream at least once a day. Everyday the whole trip.She did like it when she got to run around and have free reign. She also liked it when there were big crowds of people to wave/talk to. There were tourist buses picking up and dropping off right where we were eating and the whole time Valentine was waving and yelling, "Hi Body! Bye Body!" (she means everybody when she says body).Sometimes when she'd fall asleep in the stroller or was watching a movie on her ipod in it we were forced to give her some cover for some privacy.There was a lot of coke drinking on this trip.In honor of Grandpa Ed.Napoleon's tomb.My favorite thing about France was the sky. Breathtaking.My other favorite was the bakeries. I had a croissant or chocolate croissant everyday. This place was the best. The best thing I ate the whole trip was a warm croissant from this bakery. I would eat it everyday for the rest of my life.V's new favorite game- putting her dress or shirt over the person's head that is giving her a shoulder ride.My cute daddy.This gelato from "Amorino" in the Spanish Quarters was DELICIOUS. I only got it once but, Jordan got it I think three times. The best flavor was caramel. MMMM.They made the ice cream look like pretty flowers. Delicious and pretty.Cute siblings at the Louvre. We were much happier as a group outside the Louvre than inside. You hear about how big it is, but you don't even know. And tons of people. And lots of stairs. Not fun with a stroller. Or a teenage boy. Or a big pregnant belly."One of these is not like the others...." Drew's quote and unanimously the highlight of the trip. We all miss this man who was hanging out with an Asian tour group.Micah is apparently a thug now.Notre Dame.The stain glass at Saint Chappelle was amazing. One of my personal highlights.We all way hearted the Laduree macaroons.Especially Valentine.This is V on the grounds of Versailles.Our favorite part of Versailles, and consequently the whole trip was Marie Antoinette's darling living quarters. It was a whole composition of these little Dutch looking cottages around a beautiful scenic pond with flowers and trees and lily pads and a little bridge and a little farm. We all want to live there. We will create our own Hansen/Hafer compound that looks like this for us all to live at.Um, the chapel at Versailles was also gorgeous.It's just so CUTE.This is the only shot of all of us together. We wanted a whole family picture, so Page pointed out a couple that she heard speaking english. So I went up and asked the man (who was taking pictures so I could trust that he could handle a camera) to take a picture of all us together. He replied, "You bet!" and sure enough it turned out that he's the Mayor of Saint George, UT and of course LDS. What are the odds?Oh that sky. And that palace. I think I might let Drew move us to France.PREGGERS. I actually handled the trip quite well. I will say that by the time we got to London I was quite burned out and would return to the hotel in the afternoons to let V nap and me rest and read. But I was good. I would get a little frazzled/annoyed when Valentine would only let me hold her or would throw fits and I was the only one who could handle her- I think it wouldn't have been as stressful if I wasn't prego as well, but those occassions didn't happen too much, and overall it was a great experience. At least we did this trip before there's two. Yikes.Hahaha. When we left the hotel this day Page forbade anyone to take pictures of her because she was wearing the same shorts as the day before and didn't want anyone to notice. So of course we took a picture of just her shorts.The Opera House. It still makes me want to cry a little bit that I didn't actually go with my mom and sisters to it- it didn't work out the first time we tried and then I decided to go to the Rodin sculpture garden with Drew and V instead (which was wonderful and I loved it). The ceiling of the Opera House theater was a huge Chagall mural.

And they had a display of tutus from the French Ballet. *tear.

Paris Je T'aime.

This is Oxford- one of our stops on our day trip outside of London. I have to admit that I was actually not looking forward to Oxford, I thought it would be boring, but it ended up being one of my favorite parts of our London segment of the trip. We toured some of Christ Church at Oxford and the buildings and the whole town were just magnificent. Beautiful. I LOVED it.

The gardens EVERYWHERE in London/England were gorgeous. I wish it looked like that here.

Valentine was more into her cereal bar than Oxford. I think 90% of our pictures of Valentine form the vacation are of her eating.She just couldn't be cuter. I was so lucky to have my whole family helping out with the Stinker. Everyone was so GREAT and NICE about pitching in and taking turns with her. I love them.Valentine would have totally really eaten this if it was real.Like I said, we all loved our ice cream while on this trip.This actually is probably my favorite picture of the whole trip. This is up on the ramparts of Warwick Castle, which I heard was worth going up just to see my Mom while up there. For those of you who don't know she has a terrible fear of heights. I didn't go because I was busy taking Valentine to the Princess Tower."Pin-see!" Valentine was soooooo happy to see the girls there dressed up like princesses and at the top of Princess Tower she got to dress up like a princess. She was in HEAVEN. There is a picture of her dressed up, but it's one we bought, so I'll have to scan it, but it was hilarious. We did also buy her a crown and a wand- which she's already broken. Go figure.London was so beautiful in some parts. I loved the cute older houses/flats with ivy and flowers.Churros for Micah at the Portobello Market. It's a huge flea market once a week with tons and tons of vendors and BILLIONS of people.This was a pizza place with a funky little car in the front window. Those funny Brits.Big Ben.The Tower of London. Also awesome. Our beefeater told us some great stories- even though it was raining the tour was fun. The best part about London was always our tour guides- Paddy, the Beefeater, and the guy on our London Sightseeing Bus- those British tour guides are so cheeky.

1 comment:

Ummm, is all I have to say. Why wasn't I invited? Aren't I an honorary Hansen? Whatev. I love all of your pictures! V is looking prettier and prettier by the second, and so are you with your preggers self! Love your whole fam!-Sarah

While cleaning up Valentine after she peed all over herself and my mom's couch-

Me: "Valentine!!! We do NOT go pee-pee in our underwear!!! You're a big girl, you know that!! We do NOT do that!!!!"

Valentine: (looking down) "It's not so terrible Mama." (looks at me) "It's not so terrible."

Me: "Yes it is, it is so terrible. Don't do it again."

Valentine: (looking down again muttering) "It's not so terrible Mama....."

Page: "You're gonna diiiie!"

Dad: "Do we use these, can I throw them out??"

Jordan: "Yeah you can throw them away we don't use them anymore...... but that one Dance Dance Revolution Pad has so many dear memories."

I started to nurse Moses while some of the family was around....

Merry "Drew, do you wish that was you?"

She has been on FIRE lately!

Jessie: "So, how was Page and Ted's honeymoon?"

Kasi: "Good, they said pretty much all they did was hang out in the hotel room and on the beach."

Merry: "And make-out."

Me: "Valentine, please stop doing that."

Valentine: "WHAT'D YOU SAY?!" (continuing what she's not supposed to do)

Me: "Valentine, that's enough!"

Valentine: "WHAT'D YOU SAY??!" (still doing it)

Me: "Valentine! Sto.."

Valentine: "WHAT'D YOU SAY?! WHAT?!" (still doing it)

Summer (addressing everyone): "So, if you could have a million dollars but could never use the internet again would you take it? Which would you rather have?"

Many arguments ensued about whether a million dollars is worth more than a life time's use of the internet..... after a few minutes we hear.....

Merry: "So, would you rather have food or sex?"

Silence.

Everyone: "What did you say Merry???"

"Did you just say sex?"

Nico: "She didn't, she said text."

Me: " No, she said sex."

Merry: "Uh, yeah, I say SEX."

Valentine: "Whoah Momma, she's so heavy!" (while holding Moses)

Valentine: "Happy Tine-tine's Day!" (on Valentine's day)

While Valentine is awake in her crib at midnight and being ignored by her annoyed parents: (yelling) "Momma?!........ Hey Momma?............ Mooooommmmmaaaaaaa!......... Daddy?............ Bicah?!................. ANYBODY!!! HEY ANYBODY!!!!!!!!"

Valentine: "Aw, come on!"

Kasi: "I was a creepy teenager actually."

Merry: "Um, Ted. Probably at my wedding I will dance with you third. First my husband, then my dad and then you."

Yelling from the other room-

Me: "Valentine?"

Valentine: "What?!"

Valentine: "Wight back!"

Response from Bud to my text saying "IT'S A BOY!!!"

Bud: "Hurray! Madie you really pulled through on this one."

"Page I saw the commercial for Grey's Anatomy and there's a shooter in the hospital and the Nazi gets pulled out from under a bed!"

-Micah

"What are you doing Idiot A**?"

-Sassy while driving

"Snow globe, snow globe, I am yours" - an excerpt from one of Merry's poems